The moon is still waxing so it’s a great time to harvest herbs. I brought some lavender flowers and Italian Oregano in for drying, but not before making offerings of specially blessed waters in exchange.

Some big updates to share with everyone today! I spent Saturday and this afternoon on the website and I’m excited to report the following changes/additions:

After the “Home” link, all other links have been alphabetized.

The “About” page consists of two links – one to a FAQ and another to the Story of the Grove.

The “Archives” page has been changed. Links are alphabetical. I changed some categories. There’s a yet to be made section for articles and the book club. The “Chants” and “DP” page have been changed to match the main pages. I moved “Artisans, Bards, Folk of the Grove, and Warriors” to a “People of Muin Mound Grove” section. Also there is a yet to be made “Druid Scouts.” I have to tweak the layout a bit. There are some minute things annoying me… I also left room for future additions.

I added our social event to the calendar.

A new page, “Services” has been added including information about weddings and sainings. I included a couple photos from my wedding featuring the altar and Skip. I’ve asked Parallax if she is willing to share a photo from her wedding as well. If anyone else has a photo of their wedding/handfasting or saining (done by Skip or at the Grove), please send them my way! I mentioned funerals but I don’t know what to say about those. This page will be a work in progress, of course. I look to the rest of you for help in fleshing it out. I thought it was important for newcomers to see what we can offer in terms of major life events.

I’ve saved the best for last – The CafePress link! Skip sent me the shop he made and you can now access it from our website! Skip also informed me that $3 of every purchase goes towards Muin Mound Grove. There are SO many things to buy including organic tees, a tank top, onesies, magnets, totes, sweatshirts, and dog bowls.

Once more, I’d like to request artisans, bards, and warriors to send any examples of their work. At the moment, I have links to my ADF consignment page and my Deviant Art page, as well as Phoenix’s ADF consignment page. I know Willow won an award at the Wellspring Artisan competition but I can’t remember the name of the piece or the category. I have a few honors mentioned under “Bards” but I don’t have any examples. If you’d like to send in some poetry or music, please do!

As part of our Lughnasadh festivities, we held our traditional games. This year, the games were more physical and included such activities as racing, stone put, caber tossing, balancing, dancing, and a lawn game from Sweden called Kubb.

The competition was fierce and everyone performed valiantly. In the end, the winters of the games were:

Weretoad

Brian

Dragonfly and Abby

Huzzah to each of our heroes!

The overall champion, Weretoad, gave his prize, the champion’s wreath, to the fires in honor of Lugh.

Sorry it took me awhile to get this started. Things have been a bit hectic recently but I didn’t forget!

We’re going to finish our discussion on the novel Bard the Odyssey of the Irish by Morgan Llywelyn on the blog. Our last discussion didn’t happen because of schedule changes and our next meeting will include our Lughnasadh games… So there might not be a lot of time for book chat.

Here are some points that might be worth discussing:

Morgan Llywelyn’s portrayal of the Tuatha de Danann?

Morgan Llywelyn’s portrayal of the Tuatha de Danann

Amergin’s relationship with his brothers

Amergin’s relationship with Shinnan

The life and death of Odba and Taya

The role of bards, warriors, and sacrificers in Ireland and Celtic culture in general

Morgan Llywelyn’s portrayal of Druids

Sakkar’s transformation

In addition, I’m curious as to whether you found this book enjoyable and if you’d like to read another book as a grove in the future. I’ll let some of you chime in. I’m going to visit family for a couple days, but I’ll add my two cents when I return!

A couple meetings ago, we had a brief discussion on women in Celtic society. I’ve been very interested in updating my understanding of the subject since. Today I saw this post in “The Mary Sue” about Viking women. The author doesn’t link to the research/findings she references, though. I thought some of you would enjoy it.

So, if anyone has any good, recent articles about women in IE cultures, share some links below!

Most of you know that we’ve been reading Bard the Odyssey of the Irish by Morgan Llywelyn. As planned, we discussed the first twelve chapters at our Beltaine meeting. We had scheduled our discussion of chapters thirteen through twenty-four for our Summer Solstice meeting, but an emergency put it on hold. I suggested moving our second discussion to the blog. Now I’m wondering if those participating would like to finish discussing the book here. Let me know what you think. If you haven’t shared your thoughts on the beginning of the book, feel free to add those thoughts to this thread.

Our last discussion of the book includeded:

the role women play in Celtic societies and their strength

the role of the bard, warrior, and sacrificer

the complicated character of Colptha

brief thoughts on the portrayal of the Tuatha de Danann

I will post some questions about the next section shortly. I look forward to more discussions!

Jen K. requested a different image on the homepage as the lightening had more to do with Taranis than Airmid and Miach – the Gods we’ll be honoring for Midsummer. I suggested a photo of the Airmid doll I made and she thought that sounded great. I’m happy to share my work as I think the site would benefit from more “homemade” images.

I also noticed that Beltaine’s meeting minutes weren’t loading correctly so I tweaked that.

Beltaine 2011 Business Meeting Minutes

April 30, 2011

Syracuse University – Skip presented on ADF Druidism to 15 students and the professor. He reported that it went well. The class would like Muin Mound Grove to perform a ritual at the college. We talked about possibly doing one for Samhain, perhaps on a Sunday. Sharon reminded everyone that we would need to practice a lot. Skip invited the students to celebrate Beltaine with us but nobody showed up.

Tabards – New members who are making tabards need to finish hemming and decorating them. Skip and Sharon think we need to start earlier on a high day to add the iron-on grove logos. It was suggested that we do this activity during the upcoming vigil. Jen E. shared an idea to make the tabbards more adjustable – using grommets at the shoulders. Megan will wait to cut her tabard out until her vigil.

New Folk of the Grove Vigil – Megan and Brian requested to undergo the vigil to become official Folk of the Grove. Everyone decided to start on the Friday before our Midsummer celebration – 7 pm ish on June 17th. Everyone agreed that pizza would be an excellent dinner choice. Mel and Ron, requiring vegetarian cheese, will need a cheese-free pizza and offered to pay for their own.

Druid Scouts – We once more discussed messenger bags as a way for the kids to show off their badges. Jen E. and Skip shared what they had found and the prices. Jen E. found some at a local craft store for $12.99. Skip said he could order some through the ADF store for $8.45. The grove will further explore these options. It was agreed that Druid Scouts could display badges and pins on the strap and front flap. These bags are more practical than other options as they would allow the kids to carry their projects.

Website – Jen K. expressed approval of the changes Mel has made to the website. She says it is easier to view. Mel explained that the CSS updates are taking time but she is glad everyone likes the website.

New Business

Lughnasadh – Inspired by our book club selection, Jen E. waxed poetic about warriors and how she wants to find how she is a warrior. She encouraged others to think about how they are warriors in their own lives. She asked, “How can we develop our ‘warrior skills?'” This was followed by discussion about warrior activities for Lughnasadh. It was decided that further brainstorming could take place on the blog/Facebook/e-lists.

New Festivals – Jen K. reminded everyone that there is a new festival in Eastern Canada on June 10, 11, and 12th. It’s called The Three Rivers Festival. Skip reminded everyone that there’s a brand new festival in Massachusetts. For some reason there isn’t a link on the ADF website. If anyone has more details, please pass them along!

Wellspring – Everyone is excitedly planning for Wellspring! The North East Reagional Druid (NERD) invited us to join the “NERD Herd” in our own camping area in the spirit of fellowship and bonding. A few of us are hoping to join the herd. The Ellisons probably won’t as the RV is much too heavy for the chosen area, and Skip needs to stay by the ADF store. After the meeting, the NERD joined us and mentioned the possibility of chipping in for food. For more information visit http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nerd_herd_ADF/join. Following that, there was a discussion on what to bring as it can get very hot and very cold. Suggestions included warm and cool clothing and an extra tarp.

Next Beltaine – Jen K. noted that the grove will need more ribbon for our 2012 Beltaine celebration.

Midsummer – It was decided that the deities of the rite will be Airmid and Miach, sibling Gods of healing. The main offering will be an “Airmid cloak.” Mel offered to make the cloak. Everyone is encouraged to bring an herb to place on the cloak for offering. Brian agreed to invoke Airmid with a song he wrote for her. We still need to decide on a person to invoke Miach. Brian and Mel both expressed a desire to honor Aine at a future Midsummer rite.

Pursewarden’s Report – Sharon will share this information at a future date.